Growing
by YoungestThunderbird
Summary: The forest is patient and wise. Companion to Endless.


Forests are places of myth and mystery, magic and wonder in many stories and songs since the beginning of time. There is a certain mysticism to the trees, a secret that no one knows but everyone want to find. There is always more to the forest than first appears, for even death brings life and sometimes, war brings peace. She watches her saplings, makes sure they are strong and straight.

...

Padmé grew up in a sun-drenched little town on Naboo, near the great forests that surrounded the lakes. She learned to swim almost before she could walk, and had many happy memories in and around a certain lake.

However, the memories she treasured most were the ones of the forest. Her father would take her on hikes through it, and she would marvel at the beauty all around her.

Once, on one of these hikes, she was separated from her father. She wandered and wandered until she came upon an old woman sitting on a stump, feeding a small creature. Her eyes were as green as the foliage and she wore simple brown clothes. She asked who she was, and the woman laughed.

"I have many names, young one. They get tiring after a while. But you can call me Verdé. Is your father the one wearing a wooden whistle around his neck? He's getting worried."

Padmé perked up, and nodded yes. The old woman took out a flute and played three loud notes on it, which seemed to carry in a echoey way.

"He's coming, child. What is your name?"

Padmé told her, and she smiled.

"Your name means flower, child. Your father named you well, for you bloom in troubled times. Until he arrives, why don't I tell you a story?" And she did, a wondrous story about faerie creatures who dances in the woods and left circles of fungus. By the time the story ended, her father had arrived to pick her up. He chatted with Verdé for a little bit, and then shepherded her back to the house.

Verdé would come around every three months or so after that. She would stay for a day, and tell stories, and then she would vanish into the woods again.

Padmé's favorite story was the last one she told, of a fierce queen who protected her people from greedy men. As she slipped back into the forest, she looked back and waved goodbye. She had never done that before.

Padmé joined the Legislative Youth Program soon after that, and never found the time to wander the forest again.

 _She remembered the story later, though. Oh, did she remember it. And if the Senate did not help her, well then, she would show them why men feared the warrior women._

 _..._

Leia's father owned a vacation home far away from the capital, in the low mountains

chain covered with forest. Leia loved it when they went there, as they did every summer. She would lose her teachers and nannies and run through the trees all day, usually coming home in a shredded dress with leaves in her hair. After a summer, the servants just gave up and dressed her in sturdy breeches and a tunic, and just turned her loose at the beginning of the day.

There was one old woman named Sylvia who came and peddled little trinket at the house every week. Her wares were good luck charms, small tokens, and handmade amulets in the shape of whistles. Her eyes were the most lovely green, and Leia remembered telling her that she should paint some of her charms the same shade. She rarely sold any, and was more a traveling storyteller than a saleswoman.

"Your name means heavenly flowers, child. You never will be content to stay upon the ground; you will walk the sky." Then she smiled as if for an inside joke.

She would tell Leia old stories, stories that were beyond ancient, with a strange sort of dignity in every word.

"A long time ago" she'd say, "on a planet long lost to time, there was a man, who desired a child with every fiber of his being..."

That particular story was the first one she remembered. It told of a wicked witch who stole the man's daughter, and kept her in a tower. Leia never quite understood how the witch was able to keep her in until the prince came, but just shrugged.

The last story she was told was one that rang with importance. It told of a bitter man, unsociable, who lived alone and chased off everyone who tried to talk with him. One day, he even resorted to throwing stones at a raven. The nature gods changed him into a raven as retribution. Only then did he see that there were people who cared about him, that loved him despite his actions. He became a protector to his people.

That was Leia's last summer at the house. She joined the Senate and the Rebellion, and had to stay away from her family to keep them safe.

 _She found it ironic that she was trapped in a tower waiting for rescue, later. She was less amused when her brother (!) wanted to redeem their personal raven._

 _..._

Poe grew up moving around, as military kids have done since the beginning of time. He remembered fire planets, desert planets, and ice planets (what genius decided to rebuild the base on freaking _Hoth_?). However, the ones he liked best were the forest planets, green and growing, tangled and lush, wild in a way he was not allowed to be. His fondest memories were of sneaking away from the encampments and wandering into the forest while his parents were working.

On one of these trips, he came across an old woman with green eyes telling stories to a group of young ewoks. She was human, but appeared to be fluent in Ewok as she enthralled them. However, they soon scampered away as their mothers (or fathers, he couldn't tell) came to collect them. She noticed him watching and beckoned to him.

"Come, child. You look lonely, and I have more stories."

And stories she had, indeed. She told him of a great hero that defeated a many-headed monster with the help of his friend. She asked him his name, and he told her.

"Your name means Vain Man. Take care to make sure it is a name only, for you will see much glory." He nodded, solemnly. He had seen some of the pilots who had gotten too full of themselves, and they never had friends. He wanted to have friends, to live in one place long enough to settle in, even if only once. He had to get home, then, but he came back again and again.

His parents were going to ship out the next day, and he would have to leave... Again. He told her, and she smiled, sadly.

"I'd better make this a good one then, shouldn't I?" And she told him an epic, a story of all stories, a story of a dashing rogue and his right-hand man and a beautiful lady who fought against an evil sheriff. She smiled after she finished telling it.

"That one's my personal favorite." He eyes were still as big as saucers from it. He never forgot that one, and he thought that it was his favorite too.

 _There's a reason why his star fighter had a stripe of green. Later, when he found his right-hand man, he discovered his sheriff, and then his maid. They just needed to behead the monster._

 _..._

The forest is more than it first appears, and sometimes war brings peace. The forest keeps the young saplings strong and straight, and is patient. When the saplings are trees- well, the forest knows that they can change the world.

...

Notes:

Verdé is a play on "verdant" and other words from the same root, it means green.

Sylvia is a shortened form of Sylvania, which means woods.

The first story is of fairy circles.

The second is of the Amazons and any of their queens.

The third is of Rapunzel.

The fourth is of Raven, it's a Native American legend.

The fifth is of Hercules and the Hydra.

And the last, of course, it of Robin Hood.


End file.
